Wow, a whole range of answers. I am just getting into four channels, and then mixing them. When I was on the phone with Edirol, the tech suggested that 4 x 1 might offer less ability to modify each individual track. I am not sure that this makes sense. In 4 mono, you have four separate .wav files, and in 4 x 1, you have one file, but each track opens in the software, and should be() separately adjustable. Is this correct?
There are three modes on my R-4 (not Pro):
- Mono x 4 files
- 2-ch x 2 files
- 4-ch x 1 file
Nearly all software should handle Mono x 4 files. As ghellquist suggests, some software handles 2-ch stereo x 2 well, providing easy manipulation of all four channels. Other software does not do this easily, or at all. Same goes for 4-ch x 1 file - some software handles it well, other apps probably don't do it well, and still others probably don't handle it at all. I'm guessing the Edirol rep was talking about 4-ch x 1 file when he mentioned it might prove more difficult to edit each channel independently.
That said, I prefer 2-ch stereo x 2 files. Samplitude allows me to work easily with all 4 channels independently. And if I want to go with a single stereo pair, instead of a 4-mic mix, I can do so easily - don't have to load both mono files and then pan. All I have to do is load the single stereo file I want to use.